


Carry You Home

by weethreequarter



Category: X-Men (Movieverse)
Genre: Adoption, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Erik Has Feelings, Families of Choice, Good Parent Erik Lehnsherr, M/M, Mild Angst, Parent Charles Xavier, Parent-Child Relationship, Protective Erik
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-18
Updated: 2019-10-18
Packaged: 2020-12-22 15:54:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,982
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21079397
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/weethreequarter/pseuds/weethreequarter
Summary: When Jean visits Nina's family in Genosha for the summer, she's surprised to discover exactly who Nina's parents are.





	Carry You Home

**Author's Note:**

  * For [pinkoptics](https://archiveofourown.org/users/pinkoptics/gifts).

> Apparently I'm back on my cherik bullshit after watching Dark Phoenix (finally). This takes place in the Finding Home universe, but way after anything I've written (I might actually write more of it, now I've had this idea). It's pretty rough, and just the beginning of an idea. But I wanted to write something for pinkoptics, to hopefully make you smile with some Genoshan fluff (with mild angst, because _it's me_. 
> 
> If you haven't read Finding Home, basically following DOFP, Charles fakes his death to follow Erik and they build a life together, first in Krakow, and then in Pruszkow, under the aliases Henryk Gurzsky and Max Eisenhart. They rescue Nina from the streets in Krakow, and find David abandoned as a baby.

The wind whipped a stray lock of hair from Jean’s ponytail as she huddled into her coat on the deck of the small boat, carrying them across Lake Superior towards Genosha. Part of her still couldn’t quite believe she was actually going to set foot on Genosha, the only mutant-only place in the world.

Genosha was a hot topic back at school, particularly when it was announced by the government that they planned to gift an island to the mutant community. Raven and Hank were cautious, worried Genosha was a step on the road to separatism, something they’d fought so hard to avoid. No one at the school had ever been there.

No one, but the girl bouncing at Jean’s side. 

Nina’s parents lived there with her brother. They were two of the founders of Genosha, moving there from Poland in order to be closer to their daughter when she joined Xavier’s. 

And now, thanks to her friendship with Nina, Jean would be the second Xavier’s student to set foot in Genosha.

“I’m so excited,” Nina announced, clinging to the railing and jumping up and down.

“Really?” Jean smiled. “I couldn’t tell. You hide it very well.”

Nina rolled her eyes - and dear god, no, her adorable little friend could not be becoming a teenager, Jean absolutely wouldn’t allow it, Nina was far too cute and adorable for that - and poked Jean in the side.

Jean chuckled. 

It was sweet, to see Nina’s joy at seeing her family again, even if it filled her with a certain amount of wistfulness. After all, there was a reason she was spending the vacation with Nina’s family rather than her own. Otherwise, she would’ve spent the summer at school with the other kids whose families rejected them. 

The island grew out of the water as they moved closer, a lush green paradise looming out of the lake. Despite herself, Jean felt a thrill of excitement. 

The boat bumped against the dock while the crew tied up, just long enough for Jean and Nina to jump ashore, before casting off and setting sail for the mainland again. Jean threw it one last look over her shoulder.

“Papa!” Nina squealed.

Jean turned just in time to see Nina throw herself into the arms of a man approaching the dock, a man who instantly scooped her up into a hug and buried his face into her hair.

“Nina, schatz,” she heard him murmur.

Then he raised his head and Jean’s world froze.

Because she was staring into the face of Magneto.

He gave her a knowing, almost sad smile and tapped his temple. Jean hesitated but took the invitation.

_Hello Jean._

_You’re Magneto_, she said, and even in her head, she sounded vaguely hysterical.

_I used to be. These days I prefer Erik or Henryk. I understand if you want to leave. Nina, she doesn’t understand. About my past - pain, anger, sorrow - but if you want, I can make your excuses._

Jean didn’t know what to do. On one hand, this was Magneto, the man she’d watched as a child drop a stadium on the lawn of the White House, nearly killing the president before making a speech about mutant supremacy, only for him to disappear into obscurity after being taken down by Raven. 

But on the other hand, this was Nina’s papa, one of two men who rescued and raised a child they found abandoned on the streets of Poland. The one who taught Nina German and sang her to sleep when she was scared. 

Who, when Nina asked if she could bring her friend from school home for six weeks, had not only welcomed Jean, but paid for her travel to Genosha and insisted she didn’t have to worry about bringing anything.

_Why?_ she asked. _Why did you stop?_

_Because I have a family. And someone by my side I love very much. And I don’t want to hurt them or lose them. _

_Okay_… _Erik_.

Erik smiled. Stepping forward, he offered Jean his hand, cutting off Nina’s excited chatter with, “You must be Jean. Welcome to Genosha.”

“Thanks for inviting me,” she replied.

And when she took his hand, Jean found Magneto was just as human as the rest of them.

X

Genosha was beautiful. The buildings were created from old shipping containers and boats and, emerging from the vegetation, there was something wonderfully mystical about it all. Of course, Erik’s presence and his powers certainly explained the amount of metal, but even so, Jean found herself enchanted.

“Nina, Nina, Nina!” a small voice squealed.

A young boy, no more than five or six, sprinted out of the nearest house and began bouncing around Nina, his eyes shinning as he beamed up at her. Beside them, Erik chuckled.

“Jean, this is David,” he explained. “David, say hi to Nina’s friend, Jean.”

“Hello,” David said dutifully. “You have pretty hair.”

“Thank you,” Jean laughed.

“Dad!” Nina cried and launched herself at a man in a wheelchair.

“Hello darling,” he laughed, catching her and pressing a kiss into Nina’s hair. “Oh, I missed you so much! Let me look at you. Heavens, you’ve grown three inches since we last saw you.”

This is must be Max, Jean realised, Nina’s other father, the one only she knew existed. When Nina first confided in her that she had two fathers, it took a bit of adjustment, because she’d heard the headlines about how dangerous homosexuals are, and how homosexuality leads to AIDs. But those headlines had always sounded a little too like the lies bandied about in regards to mutants for Jean to believe them entirely. And when Nina began to tell her about her parents, Jean found it even harder to reconcile those lies with the life Nina grew up with. 

But looking at Max now, Jean found herself thinking he looked incredibly like Charles Xavier, the school’s founder who died in a tragic accident before the school opened.

_There’s a reason for that._

Jean jumped.

_Apologies Jean._

Max was smiling, even as he listened to Nina. 

“Nina, darling ,why don’t you take your things inside while I say hello to Jean?” Max suggested. “David, can you help your sister please?”

“Okay,” David agreed.

“Hello Jean,” Max smiled, rolling his chair towards her. “I imagine you have some questions.”

“You are Charles Xavier, right?” she frowned. “I’ve seen your portrait at the school.”

Erik snorted.

“Good grief, they don’t still have that awful thing hanging up, do they?” Max - Charles - grimaced. “Yes. I am indeed Charles Xavier.”

“But you died.”

Charles glanced at Erik, his expression softening.

“Not exactly. It’s safer this way, if Raven and Hank believe I’m dead. But I most certainly am not. I’m sorry, we’ve thrown rather a lot at you today,” he apologised. “Would you like to come inside?”

“Do you drink tea? Coffee?” Erik asked, and Jean decided that Magneto making her tea or coffee was the most surreal moment of her life.

“Tea. Thank you,” she replied.

She followed them inside, to a kitchen that felt warm and welcoming, pictures of the family on the walls, no doubt back in Poland, where Nina grew up, and Jean felt a stab of regret. She knew there were no pictures of her in her family home, not anymore. And certainly no drawings on the fridge, held in pride of place by coloured magnets, years after their completion. 

She swallowed.

“Here,” Erik said softly, handing her a steaming mug.

“Thank you.”

Erik pulled a chair to Charles’ side, sitting right next to him, and Jean caught a glance between them. It only lasted a moment, but in it, she saw love and affection, more than she’d seen in a long time.

“We want to thank you actually,” Charles said. “We worried about Nina, sending her away. Then when she began writing about this older girl who’d taken her under her wing, we were relieved there was someone looking out for her.”

“I think she looks out for me,” Jean replied automatically.

“Sounds like Nina,” Erik smiled.

Jean glanced around the room, clutching her mug, using it to ground her in the insanity of the situation she’d found herself in, all because Nina sat down beside her one afternoon in the garden. 

Then, to her surprise, she spotted her own face on the wall, in a strip of photos she’d taken with Nina in a photo booth at the mall one Saturday.

“That’s me,” she blurted out.

“Yes,” Charles said, following her gaze. “Nina sent it to us.”

A lump pressed in her throat. Jean tried to swallow, but instead, her vision blurred.

“You have my picture up,” she said, her voice wobbling embarrassingly. “Not even my father has that. Sorry,” she whispered, squeezing her eyes shut.

She heard the scrape of chair legs on the floor, then someone sat on the bench beside her, pulling her in to a warm hug, tucking her head under their chin. 

_Erik_, her mind supplied, recognising his mind.

And the fact that Magneto, the most wanted terrorist in the world was holding her and running a soothing hand along her spine when her own father could barely look at her was almost too much. 

Jean leaned into his touch, and Erik squeezed her gently.

“You are always welcome with us,” he murmured. “Jean, we will never turn you away.”

She felt a warm presence in her mind, recognising it belatedly as Charles’ own version of a hug.

“I’m okay,” she insisted, pulling away.

Erik and Charles both watched her with concerned eyes. Erik reached out, carefully wiping the tears from her face, with tenderness she never would’ve associated with the man in the cape on TV ten years ago. 

“Thanks,” she muttered.

Erik offered her a smile, running his hand through her hair, and he was so sincere, Jean felt like she might burst into tears all over again.

X

“What did they do to her?” Erik asked, stepping out of the bathroom and padding across the bedroom to climb into bed next to Charles.

Charles sighed, dropping his book into his lap.

“They do anything, not really,” he explained. “Her mother died as a result of an accident caused by Jean’s powers manifesting. Her father…”

“Blames her,” Erik supplied, the familiar anger burning in his chest at the thought of anyone, but particularly the bright, intelligent young woman upstairs, who’d adopted his daughter as a friend, being abandoned for her mutation.

“Yes,” Charles admitted. “He’s remarried. Has another daughter.”

“So, he not only blames her, he replaced her,” Erik spat.

“Calm your mind,” Charles warned. “She’s a telepath, remember.”

“Right,” Erik sighed.

Jean was a telepath, a telepath trying to reconcile him with the image of Magneto she’d been led to believe would hurt anyone who stood in his path. 

Charles’ palm slipped onto his cheek, turning Erik’s face towards him. Erik dropped a kiss onto Charles’ wrist. 

“Old softie,” Charles teased. 

Erik glared his disapproval.

“One sign of a child in need and you’re kneeling in the dirt to hold her,” Charles added softly, heedless of Erik’s glare.

(By now he was probably immune)

Erik knew Charles was thinking back to the night they found Nina, cold and alone in the streets of Krakow. Then there was David, abandoned in the woods near their home in Pruszkow as a baby, found by Erik and Nina one afternoon.

“You find all our children, don’t you?” Charles whispered.

Erik swallowed.

He took Charles’ face in his hands, pushing their foreheads together.

“Only because you found me,” he murmured. “Time and again.”

“Ich liebe dich,” Charles whispered.

“I love you,” Erik nodded, stealing a kiss. He smiled. “And our children. All three of them.”

Charles chuckled.

“Old softie,” he repeated, and this time Erik just sighed and rolled his eyes, and decided there were worse things in life to be.

**Author's Note:**

> To me, in DP it's looked like Genosha was in a lake, which is why I placed it in Lake Superior. This is just my interpretation and I know it doesn't match with comicsverse.
> 
> I'm on Tumblr as [weethreequarter](https://weethreequarter.tumblr.com) so feel free to come and chat.


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